I texted my parents a lot to give them updates even though I knew I would never get a response. They unfortunately passed away in a car accident when I was ten and growing up after that point I lived with my grandparents, who were the most supportive people I could ask for. They always believed in my dreams despite what anyone said. I began this tradition when I was fifteen years old where I would text my parents on my birthday every year to update them on what I was doing and how things were going. I knew I would never get a response but I enjoyed doing it. Here we are ten years later and I’m still upholding the tradition. My life has definitely been different than most. I grew up in Houston, Texas, hence why it was so strange I gravitated towards soccer. Because if anyone knows anything about high school in Texas it’s that football and baseball are bigger than life itself. High school football games get the same amount of people as some NFL games. So while soccer was known it was definitely not in the spotlight. I tried all the other sports growing up and I’ve always been athletic but nothing really stuck until soccer. Something about it really got my attention. Especially after my parents passed I spent more time than ever out on the pitch. It became my home, it became my escape. All of my built up anger and frustration in life I was able to channel through The Beautiful Game, as they call it. I loved everything about it, the way the ball skids across the grass, the open green everywhere, the sound of the ball hitting the net. It put me at ease, for that brief ninety minutes after school everyday I felt free and like nothing else mattered. My passion for the game only continued to develop and grow until I was seventeen and I had become one of the top players in the state and was being recruited by many D1 schools. Fast forward a year and it was my senior year in high school season. It was our eighth game of the season and our record stood at 5-0-2. The only remaining undefeated team in the state and we were playing our rival school that night. It was always the biggest game of the year and most of the school came. After school I went home, got some food, then took a nap to rest up for kickoff at 7pm. It was now ten minutes until kickoff and we had just finished our warmup and were going back into the locker room to change into our jerseys and do one final team talk. We had been looking forward to this game since the season began. It was about thirty minutes into the first half as I went for a loose ball off a corner and was in a stride for stride race with one of their players. I managed to edge him out and got there just before him. Just as I was about to take a touch away he pushed me in the back in an attempt to knock me off the ball. I fell to the ground as I heard a loud pop. At first I thought nothing of it and I planned to get up and keep playing. However the second I tried to stand up I immediately realized that it was much worse than I initially anticipated. I couldn’t even stand up. The ref stopped the game in which I was carted off back into the locker room and told me I needed to go to the hospital to get an X-ray. I was then taken to the hospital where I got my pictures taken and was told to go home and would be given results within the next 24 hours. I waited the entire next day very impatiently as I did not like being uncertain. It wasn’t until we had all sat down for dinner the next day that the phone rang and my grandmother went to go answer it. I watched her in an attempt to read her lips as she has across the house in the living room. What felt like five hours was a five minute phone call as she returned to the table to deliver the news. I had torn my ACL and was out for the foreseeable future and definitely for the remainder of the season. This news was completely devastating as I had it all and it was taken away in a split second. My D1 status was now at risk as I was unsure whether I would return in time for the season. Suddenly everything I worked so hard for had been stripped away in a second. I stayed home from school the next day as I was too distraught to go. My teammates came over to my house the next day to check in on me after the injury. I was pretty down but it made me feel a lot better to see my teammates.

 Playoffs started in two days so they went home early to make sure they were fully prepared. I went back to school the next day where I had to have friends carry around my bags for me as I was on crutches. School was rough as I saw all my friends and teammates all excited for playoffs going into them as the only undefeated team still standing as we had ended up beating our rivals 3-2. I still went to practice after school despite not being able to play. I figured the least I could do was show my support. Here comes the game day and it’s round 1 of the playoffs. The theme was blue out as our school colors were blue and white. The whole student body was head to toe in blue. We had a lot of school spirit at our school which I liked. I couldn’t even tell you what happened at school that day all I could think about was the game. School ends and everyone has a few hours to kill until we need to be back at school at 6:00pm for a 7:00pm kickoff. Most of the team went home to get some food and maybe take a nap before. It’s now 6:00pm and everyone is showing back up and heading to the locker room. The locker room before and after games was always one of my favorite parts about playing high school sports. After about 15 minutes we head down to the field to begin warming up. We see the other team's bus has already arrived and is at the field. We walk down and begin to warm up. I have no other job other than to just hype the team up for the big game. A little later on and the ref blows the whistle and the match begins. It’s a slow game at first as both teams are shaking off the nerves and getting settled in. About 25 minutes in the opposing midfield and takes a shot and hits the post, just inches away from putting them in the lead. The first half comes to an end and the score is still 0-0 with both teams having chances with just no one able to finish. We switch up formations at halftime to go from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 in order to attack them on the wings. We have a kick off and within the first 60 seconds we are able to get a shot off which is saved by the goalie and goes out for the corner. We have the best aerial attacker in the state as a 6’4 center back who comes running up into the box. The corner kick taker raises his hand and swings the ball into the box curving directly into the head of our center back. He rises up and because of his height is able to get over their man and heads the ball into the top right corner. The crows erupt as we take the lead just two minutes into the second half and now hold all the momentum. They kick back off and a sudden burst of energy has come through the team as we are getting to every ball first, winning every header, and making every tackle. It’s not long until our winger makes a run down the side line and makes a beautiful cross on the ground straight into the path of our stiker who slots it into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. Everyone feels a slight relief as we are now up by two  with only ten minutes left although the game is definitely not over. It’s the 88th minute and we put one final goal past them to seal it and send us to the quarterfinals. Everyone heads back to the locker room to celebrate the victory but only for a short time as everyone is aware it’s still a long road ahead. Through the next week and a half we play the quarterfinals which we win 3-1 and the semifinals which we win 2-0. After the game everyone instantly goes to check who our opponent will be in the finals and it’s none other than our rival school, the team that hurt me, we are looking for revenge. But so are they as we had beat them in our previous encounter. We have a week until the final and we are ready to win at all costs. Finals day rolls around and no one is thinking about anything other than the game tonight. It’s at a neutral school so to not give anyone an unfair advantage. We arrive at the field and the scene is set, this is the moment we have been wanting since the beginning of the season. Friday night, nice turf field, over a 1000 people in attendance. Everyone is warmed up and ready to go as they run out on the field for the national anthem. The anthem plays but I don’t think anyone is paying any attention to it. The game begins and it’s scrappy from the very start which we fully expected. About twenty minutes into the game our winger makes a run down the sideline and cuts inside right outside the 18 and has a shot that hits the post. There’s a large gasp on the sideline as we thought the shot was going in. No one really has many more chances in the first half and it is 0-0. Everyone is definitely feeling the nerves a little bit. The second half starts and almost immediately our goalie makes a mistake off a shot from the other team and lets the ball roll into the goal giving them a 1-0 lead. Their crowd erupts as ours falls into complete silence. We pick the ball up out of the goal and take it to midfield to restart. We know we have an uphill battle now. Play is resumed and we are on full attack now as we know we need a goal. We are pressing hard as the crowd cheers us on in order to give us any assistance possible. Our winger, Jared, who had been my best friend since preschool, wins the ball deep in their half. We beatz one man and finds himself in open space where he crosses it in. Our stiker jumps but misses the header by just a centimeter. A big sigh takes over the crowd just when our other winger comes darting in and hits the ball perfectly on the volley and the ball flies into the top corner almost as if in slow-motion. The crowd erupts as our winger runs to the fans to celebrate. The game is now tied 1-1 with 25 minutes left. The next 20 minutes are a stalemate as both teams play very cautiously to not give up a goal. There’s now two minutes left and our keeper just saved a shot and holds onto the ball. He rolls it out to the center back, he takes it forward to draw pressure in. He plays it perfectly and passes it out wide to our fullback just as their striker presses. Our fullback was the fastest kid on the team and always had been, he runs down the slide line with the ball at full speed where he meets their full back. He plays a one two with our center mid and gets in behind just on top of the 18. He cuts inside onto his right foot and hits the ball as hard as possible. I watch in awe as everything I’ve worked for in this sport could possibly pay off in this moment. All the hours in my backyard by myself working hours upon hours until I couldn’t feel my legs. All the time I’ve dedicated to this sport. Everything this sport has given me as my coping mechanism ever since my parents passed. All the blood, sweat, and tears gone into this. Even though I wasn’t playing it felt like I was out there.